Alor-Pantar languages: origins and theoretical impact

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This project aims to further document and analyze the non-Austronesian languages of the Alor-Pantar archipelago of southeastern Indonesia. Until very recently these languages were among the least well-documented languages of Indonesia, and all of them are endangered. The project focuses on: I. Extended Documentation of spatial reference and numerical expressions.II. Word Class Typology: the continuum between word classes and grammatical features; how morphosyntactic categories evolve; unusual morphosyntactic phenomena of the Alor-Pantar languages. III. Linguistic Prehistory: quantitative evidence for the genetic position of the Alor-Pantar languages, based on bottom-up reconstruction to establish genetic subgroups and evaluate potential genetic relationships with languages of New Guinea.